Computational Logic Contest
Overview
The purpose of the Computational Logic Contest is to give students a chance to
demonstrate their understanding of Computational Logic by writing axioms and
selecting reasoning strategies for a computer to use in solving logic problems.
Details
All work will be done in teams, with each team consisting of 2 or 3 members.
All members in a team must be enrolled in CS157. No outside help is permitted.
The contest will consist of logical entailment problems in various categories.
Descriptions of each category will be provided in advance, and teams will be
asked to make recommendations for solving problems within each category.
Each category description will include (1) a characterization of possible
premises, (2) a characterization of possible conclusions, (3) various
background axioms, and (4) a maximum number of steps.
The team's recommendations for each category must include (1) a collection of
background axioms to include with the premises (e.g. variations on the
background axioms provided in the category's description) and (2) a selection
of reasoning strategies appropriate to that category.
The contest will take place starting at noon on the last class day of the
quarter. We will run Logica on problems from each of the categories using
each team's recommendations. During class, we will discuss the results and
declare a winner.
Scoring
Each team will be awarded points separately for each problem. These points will
be added together to produce a final score. The team with the largest final
score will win the contest.
There will be 10 problems in all. The score for each problem will range from
-10 points to +10 points, meaning that each team will receive a score between
-100 points and +100 points. Terminating with an incorrect answer on a problem
will give -10 points. Exceeding the maximum number of steps for a problem will
give 0 points. Terminating with the correct answer will give a variable number
of points from 0 to 10. In the case of a correct answer, the score will be
obtained by inversely scaling the number of steps actually taken from zero
steps to the maximum number of steps for the problem. For example, if the
maximum number of steps is 200 and a team gets the correct answer in 100 steps,
the team will receive 5 points.
Note that the problems will be chosen so that the probability that logical
entailment holds in any particular case is 50%. The upshot of this is that
guessing will lead to an expected value of 0.
Reward
As a reward for participating in the contest, contestants will have points
added to their CS157 score. The number of points will be their team's score
divided by 5 (which gives a maximum of 20 points). All participants on a single
team will receive the same number of points. Those with negative scores, if
any, may elect to forego this privilege.
In addition, the members of the winning team will be offered the opportunity to
take a sunset tour of the Bay Area in a private airplane.